The big freeze

DANGER: Not everyone is taking the risks of severe weather seriously. These three youths put their lives at risk walking on the canal in Rishton before they were moved on by police who are warning people NOT to treat frozen water as an ice skating rink

HYNDBURN has been hit with some of the heaviest snowfall in history – and temperatures are set to continue to plummet.

With the country experiencing its coldest winter in three decades emergency services were put under pressure.

And chaos has struck the borough’s roads with drivers struggling to make their way through inches of snow.

Weather experts predict the subzero temperatures will continue and pressure is mounting on the county council who are running out of salt supplies.

Schools have been forced to close for much of the week following heavy snowfall, and areas of high ground including Oswaldtwistle and Belthorn are among those worst affected.

A Met Office spokesman told the Observer the worst weather in Hyndburn is almost over, but issued a safety warning as freezing temperatures are set to continue.

He said: "The worst weather in Accrington is almost gone but there are one or two snow flurries coming off the Pennines.

"For the next four or five days it will be mostly dry and the emphasis will move away from snow to ice being the major problem."

He added: "We don’t see a sign of the cold snap ending."

The Met Office says the freak weather system is coming from a high pressure block over Greenland.

The freezing temperatures which have plummeted to below -14 degrees celsius in some areas of East Lancashire are caused by north and easterly winds from the Arctic and Siberia.

Local weather experts claim East Lancashire suffered the coldest December since 1996.

But the country has not experienced such extreme weather conditions for 29 years. The worst may be behind us, but people in Hyndburn will have to brace themselves as the cold snap will not be behind us for some time.